


You're Not Alone

by Hexenjäger (Rodarolla2)



Series: Anti-bullying [1]
Category: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011), S.W.A.T. (2003)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Brian Gamble is William Brandt, Bullying, F/M, Implied or Off-stage Rape/Non-con, M/M, Self-Harm, implied prostitution
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-04
Updated: 2013-07-17
Packaged: 2017-12-04 08:37:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/708732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodarolla2/pseuds/Hexenj%C3%A4ger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After moving from LA, Brian Gamble/William Brandt tries but fails to fit in at his new school, and is bullied because of it. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>If bullying or references mentioned in the tags scare you, then don't read.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Today at my school, we had a chapel dedicated to bullying. During the course of it, I had the urge to write this down. Bullying is serious and needs to be stopped. As a recipiant of bullying, I am struggling at times to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was bullied my entire 2nd grade year just because I was smart. I've been bullied since returning to my Christian school in third grade, but not near the extent I was back in public school. My mom remembers coming to pick me up one day only to find me hiding behind trashcans from the bullies. Even now, I have wanted to cut myself and at times kill myself. All as a result of bullying. I urge you to stop bullying whenever you see it. If you see it, don't just watch it, stop it even if you stand out. If you're being bullied, stand up for yourself, get someone to help you, turn what they say against them, and don't give them the satisfaction of knowing that they brought you down. If you're bullying somebody, please just stop. Put yourself in their shoes. Think, Is this how I want to be treated? 
> 
> Okay, I'm done preaching. This story is about what are some of the effects of bullying.   
> Our victim here, Brian Gamble/ William Brandt, is a classic senario. A kid moves to a completely new place, they are singled out as being different (in this case and in my previous one, it's Will's/Brian's brain and status of being new), and are harrassed, beaten, and later sexually assaulted. (I was never, thankfully, but I have heard of this happening sadly.) The victim starts being depressed, withdrawn, refusing to talk to anyone about what's going on, and starts harming themselves. This goes on until they kill themselves, get help, or, like what will happen in this story, someone steps in and shows them the beauty in life.

"Today's your last day with us, aint it Gamble?" Micheal Boxer nudged his friend.

 

"Don't remind me." Brian Gamble muttered.

 

"Don't worry, Brian." TJ McCabe ruffled the smaller teen's hair. "We'll still be in contact."

 

"Yeah, Bri!" Jim Street grinned. "During the summer and other breaks we'll be able to visit each other."

 

"Yeah, I guess..." Brian sighed. "Still, why couldn't Mom just let me stay with Dad for the school year and I fly out to visit her in the summer?"

 

"Yeah..." The other three teens sighed. The school bell rung, signalling the four freshmen that it is time for third period class. They trudged through the day until three o'clock.

 

"Bye, Brian..." Mike ruffled the blonde's hair.

 

"See ya, Brian..." TJ punched the teen's shoulder.

 

"Bye, Bri..." Jim hugged his best friend.

 

"See you guys this summer!" Brian smiled. His mom pulled up in her truck with a small U-Haul trailer behind it with all the things that they were taking to Washington DC with them. She waved at her son as he walked over and got in.

 

"Good day at school?" She smiled. Brian mumbled something as he pulled out his iPod. They began their long drive to Washington DC.

 

 

* * *

 

                                                                                                  Three Weeks Later

 

* * *

 

 

"Class, we have a new student." Mrs. Linsey smiled. "This is William Brandt, he just moved here from LA." William Brandt, formerly Brian Gamble, waved at the freshmen class at his new DC school. They went through the day nicely until after lunch.

 

"Hey new guy," One of the senior football players yelled at him.

 

"What?" William said as he looked through his locker.

 

"Look at us, bitch." The guy growled as he and his buddies stalked up to him. They slammed his locker shut. He sighed.

 

"What the fuck do you want?" William growled.

 

"I said, look at us, bitch." The guy growled.

 

"Go fuck yourself." William growled. The guy punched him in the face. The other guys laughed. William glared at them then walked away towards the cafeteria. He managed to get through the rest of the day without much incident. He ran home as soon as school was out. As soon as he was home, he ran into the master bathroom in their small house. He gingerly touched the bruise on his cheek.

 

"Fuck those bastards." William Brandt growled as he grabbed his mother's foundation and covered the purple shape. His laptop started ringing.

 

"Jim!" William called gleefully as he answered the Skype call.

 

"Brian!" Jim yelled. "How was the first day?"

 

"Crappy." William said.

 

"Sorry." Jim smiled apologetically. They talked for a few more hours until his mom got home.

 

"Jim, I've got to go." William ran up the stairs with the laptop.

 

"Kay. Skype tomorrow?" Jim said. "I'm out for a teacher work day."

 

"Yeah, after school." William nodded. They ended the call and William focused on working while trying to ignore his mom's new 'job'. It was hard to do, considering his room was right above where she 'worked'. He focused on researching things for an upcoming science project, but the moans and screams were extremely hard to ignore. At times, he failed. The days continued like that, dealing with the bullies that seemed to be larger in number each time, working on school work and helping Jim and his old friends with their's via Skype, and trying to ignore his mom's job, until summer, when he flew out to LA. He carefully hid the bruises and said nothing about his treatment in DC. After spending summer in sunny LA where he surfed every morning and just hung out with his friends and Dad all day, he flew back to DC and braced himself for another year, hopefully with without the harrassment.  


	2. Chapter 2

William braced himself as he opened the doors to his new sophmore homeroom. He sat in the very back corner, hoping to not be noticed by anyone besides the teacher.

 

"Hey, Brandt." Abraham Dean sneered as he and two of his friends crowded the blonde.

 

"We heard about what your mom does." The one on his left sneered.

 

"Leave me alone." William said, trying to not remember what he had been hearing at night since he got to DC.

 

"What? Don't want to talk about your whore of a mother?" Abraham sneered.

 

"Leave me alone, Dean." William said, a little more forcefully.

 

"Is there a problem, boys?" Ms. Rogers said.

 

"No, ma'am, Ms. Rogers." Abraham said as he walked back to his seat. William sent a grateful smile to his teacher and she smiled back. She took attendance and dismissed the class to go to first period. William ducked into Algebra 2 and took a seat near the back. Thankfully, he wasn't noticed and was able to get his work done in peace. The next class was an all-purpose class, talking about things that the teacher felt like. The first day, apparently, they were talking about law enforcement.

 

"Does anyone know a police officer, doesn't matter if they're local or not?" Mr. Johns asked. William shyly raised his hand. "William, care to share who they are?"

 

"It's my dad and some of his friends." He said. "They're on LAPD. Also, that's how I met some of my friends, through my dad's work." He ducked down in his seat, hoping that no one would give him crap about that. Things went well, until after class and he was going to his locker.

 

"Hey, Brandt." Blaise Marks, a junior on the football team, sneered at him.

 

"Yes?" William said as he looked up from his locker.

 

"I heard about your whore mom." He sneered. "I bet she's been teaching you how to be a good little bitch, right?"

 

"No." William said as he closed his locker. "Don't talk about her like that." He glared at the bigger teen.

 

"What's a matter bitch? Hit a nerve did I?" Blaise laughed.

 

"Fuck you, asshole." William said and turned to walk away. Blaise growled and pinned William to the lockers.

 

"What did you just say, bitch?" He growled. Willaim struggled to get free. "I oughta make you pay for that right now bitch."

 

"Let me go now." William struggled harder. Voices drifted around the corner, signalling people approaching.

 

"Only because there's people coming."  Blaise growled and disappeared down the hallway. William shook and darted down the hall to his English class. He was terrified, but what was left of stubborn, tough, badass Brian Gamble wouldn't let him cave and start to cry. Not for the first time, his heart ached for Jim, Mike, and TJ, the warm LA sun, and his surfboard and a good wave. He just wanted to go home, salvage what was left of himself, and be around his friends and dad. But he couldn't go back, his mom got full custody of him and she wasn't going to let him go. He braved through the day and went home as soon as he could. Jim wouldn't be on Skype because of football tryouts. He did his homework and then collapsed beside his bed. He eyed the knife his dad had given him and felt the urge to cut himself. Without thinking, he grabbed it and sliced his wrist. It hurt like hell, but it felt good to him. He just layed there and stared at the knife until the sounds of his mom and the guy of the night stopped and complete silence filled the house. He cleaned the knife and his wrist and went to bed. He got up in the morning and trudged to school. He went through the first half of the school year dealling with the harrassment, beatings, and his fucked up way of dealing with it. When he flew out to LA for Christmas, he carefully hid everything about what had been going on from everyone and flew back in time for school. Things went normal for a few months until just after school let out for the summer. Really, about fifteen minutes after school let out.

 

"Brandt." Blaise growled as he tackled the smaller teen and pinned him to the wall of an abandoned building near where William lived. William kicked and struggled to get free.

 

"Get the fuck away from me!" He snarled, terrified. He could feel the bulge against his back and it didn't take him long to realize what it was.

 

"No. No one's gonna save you now." Blaise snarled. William screamed.

 

* * *

 

 

Five days later, when he was on his way to his dad's house in LA, William still limped. His ass still hurt, he still felt violated, and it made him feel disgusting. He had torn, thus the limp still there. He was on his knees giving thanks he hadn't got an STD, but never told anyone. The police, his mom, teachers, other students (Hopefully) didn't know. He was going to make sure that Jim, Mike, TJ, his dad, and their dad's never found out. He sighed.

 

"BRIAN!" Jim shouted gleefully as he ran towards his best friend and nearly tackled him as he hugged him tight, no crushed him in a bear-hug.

 

"JIMBO!" William grinned, fighting back memories of what had happened, as he returned the bone crushing hug.

 

"So glad you're back." Jim grinned.

 

"Glad to be back." William said, sincerly meaning it. "How's school been?"

 

"As good as it can get without you there." Jim shrugged. "By the way, there's some people I want you to meet."

 

"Kay." William said as he fought down the fear of them turning out to be bullies. Jim pulled him to where some teens were around a table at one of their favorite hangout places.

 

"Guys, this is Brian Gamble." Jim grinned. "He used to live here until his mom moved to DC and took him with her."

 

"Hi." Brian smiled.

 

"Hey, I'm Deacon Kay, but just call me Deke." The large African-American boy grinned.

 

"I'm Chris Sanchez." The Latino girl smiled. "McCabe and Boxer are getting some drinks."

 

"TJ and Mike are here? Awesome." Brian grinned as he and Jim sat down. He hid the wince as he sat down, because his ass was still hurting. He also angled his wrists so they couldn't see the scars.

 

"We're back." Mike said as they reached the table. "Brian! You're back!" He grinned as he fist-bumped the blonde.

 

"Yep. Back for the summer, at least." Brian said. He spent the summer hiding what was happening to him and prayed day and night that he wouldn't have to go back to what was happening to him everyday at school.


	3. Chapter 3

William hid behind the lockers on his first day back, hoping that no one would notice him. It was extremely hard to hide his scars from Jim and the others during the summer since they dragged him with them everywhere. He ducked into his new homeroom and sat down once again back in the back.

 

"Hey," a British accented boy grinned at him from where he was sitting.

 

"What's your name? I'm Benjamin Dunn, by the way, but just call me Benji."

 

"William Brandt." William hoped he didn't stutter.

 

"Nice to meet you Will, I can call you Will, can't I?" Benji said.

 

"Yeah, Will's fine. Most people call me Brandt or less than flattering names though." William tried to not look like he was utterly startled.

 

"I just came here from England on one of those foriegn exchange programs, do you know your way around the school? Cause I don't and don't wanna get lost on my first day." Benji smiled.

 

"Yeah. What's your schedule, we might have the same classes." William said. Benji handed him his schedule as Will pulled out his own. "Yeah, the only class we don't have together is fouth period."

 

"Okay." Benji said.

 

"Excuse me, is this Mr. Li's Junior Homeroom?" a female voice asked.

 

"Yeah." Benji grinned at the dark skinned girl. "I'm Benjamin Dunn, just call me Benji though, and this is William Brandt."

 

"Hi." Will said.

 

"Hey, My name's Jane Carter." She sat down beside them. "I take it we're the only ones here right now."

 

"Yeah." Will said. It didn't take long for the other juniors to file in and the teacher was there. They went through the homeroom and were leaving when Jane poked Will in the arm.

 

"Hey, Will, do you have Mrs. Macguire's Social Studies first?" Jane asked.

 

"Yeah. Benji does too." Will said.

 

"Hey, bitch!" Abraham Deans sneered as he stood in front of the three's path. Jane's eyes lit up with anger at being adressed like that.

 

"What do you want, Deans." Will said.

 

"Heard about you over the summer." He laughed as he made a threatening move towards him. "Marks was telling everybody about how good a bit-" He stumbled back as Jane punched him in the jaw.

 

"Look here jackass. Leave him alone." Jane growled as she stood infront of the wide-eyed Will. "If you don't, I'll castrate you and then let my parents deal with your parents. We clear?"

 

"Yeah!" Abraham squeaked as he scrambled away. Jane didn't move from her protective position until he had disappeared.

 

"Will?" Jane turned to look at the blonde. "You okay?"

 

"Why'd you step in?" Will mumbled.

 

"One, you're cool and I like you. Two, it's obvious he was bullying you, I hate bullies, and he needs to learn that bullying is not okay. Hasn't anyone told you that?" Jane asked.

 

"No. Everyone just joins in. You're the first to actually show that they care about me enough to stop the bullying in this school." Will shook his head.

 

"Don't you tell your parents so that they could stop this or get you transferred?" Benji asked. They started walking to class again.

 

"Mom wouldn't care if she knew. Dad couldn't do anything even if he knew." Will sighed.

 

"Why?" Jane demanded.

 

"Mom is a," here he lowered his voice, "prostitute." His voice returned to normal." Dad is a LAPD SWAT officer. They're divorced and mom got full custody of me. I only get to see my dad on summer break and longer school breaks. I've got a few friends back in LA, but they can't do anything, even if they knew."

 

"Oh... Please don't be mad when I ask this, but, what was that guy talking about?" Benji cringed.

 

"School had just let out, I was nearly home, and I was tackled by a junior named Blaise Marks. I had offended him earlier in the year and he wanted to make me pay for it. I was... he... _raped_ me..." Will screwed his eyes shut. Jane pulled him into a tight hug as Benji placed a hand on his shoulder.

 

"Oh Will..." Jane whispered.

 

"I had a helluva time hiding that from my dad and friends when I went to LA five days later, still hurting and limping." Will chuckled. "I didn't get a STD, thankfully, but Jim did asked me was I okay since I had been limping. I told him I had hurt my ankle in PE on the last day of school, but I was fine. He had this look on his face that screamed 'bullshit' about what I had told him but didn't press it." Will ran a hand through his hair. They made it to Social Studies and Jane and Benji were in what Jim would have called 'mama-bear mode' and gave a truly threatening look to anyone who looked the wrong way at Will. They went through the day until home ec like that.

 

"All right class. I am going to assign you to groups of four for a project that will be ongoing for three weeks. Your guardians have been alerted prior and have each given their consent. First group, Abraham Deans, Chelsea Gavinns, Xaiver Gavinns, and Jason Holder. Second group, Josiah James, Betty Holder, Kayla Martin, and Seth Davis. Third group, Samuel Yarbourough, Jackie Yarbourough, Louis Underwood, and Helen Brennan. Last group, Ethan Hunt, Jane Carter, Benjamin Dunn, and William Brandt." Mr. Kent said. "Go to your groups and I will pass out the information on your project." There was a scrambling and Will could clearly hear the insults about him to whoever Ethan Hunt was.

 

"We're together!" Jane grinned.

 

"Sweet!" Benji cheered.

 

"Yep. Will smiled.

 

"Are you guys, Jane Carter, Benjamin Dunn, and William Brandt?" a dark haired teen asked.

 

"I prefer Benji, but yeah." Benji said. "You're Ethan Hunt?"

 

"Yeah." the guy said.

 

"Then have a seat." Jane said as she motioned to the one across from herself. Will gave a shaky grin and Jane reached under the table to grabbed his hand. "Oh, and by the way, we play nice here. So no bullying of any sort, or I will make you unable to breed. Got it?"

 

"I don't bully anyway, but thanks for the warning." Ethan said.

 

"All right, your assignment is to live together at a pre-approved house as a family for three weeks minimum. The house was approved by Mr. Carter. It is located in a nice neighborhood so you must play by the rules and do not make the law come after you. Are we clear?" Mr. Kent said as he handed out a few folders to each of them.

 

"Crystal." Ethan smiled.

 

"The only law that'd come after us would be my dad and his buddies." Will mumbled with a hint of a smile on his face. Benji and Jane laughed and Ethan chuckled.

 

"Your dad and his buddies are DCPD?" Ethan asked.

 

"No, they're LAPD SWAT." Will shook his head. "Mom got custody of me and moved here."

 

"Sorry to hear that. That's cool that they're SWAT." Ethan gave a sympathetic smile.

 

"Yeah. They're total badasses. Dad, Uncle Rob, Uncle Harry, and Uncle Bruce used to take me, Jimbo, Mike, and TJ with them to the precint. Pretty fun, especially when they would let us go to the practice range. Always kicked their asses at shooting. Jimbo said I'd make a good sniper." Will grinned.

 

"So, we're given a budget and we have to decorate our house and stay within budget?" Benji said. "Some of the stuff we need will cost more than our budget once you figure out all we need."

 

"I could call Jimbo. His parents are from Ireland and they said they would give me some decorations when I got my own house. I could get them to use for this. They'll probably be cool with it, maybe even come out to visit later." Will shrugged.

 

"Good plan. I could get my parents to send me some stuff too!" Benji said.

 

"Well, boys, we need to go check out the place since school's about to be out and continue our planning." Jane smiled. "And Ethan, do us a favor and help keep the jackass population of the school away from Will. He's gone through enough already." Ethan nodded.

 

"To our lockers! Does anyone have a car? Cause I don't." Benji said.

 

"No. My mom drops me off in the mornings and picks me up after school." Jane said.

 

"No car. I walk home, even though it's not a smart idea where I live." Will said.

 

"I've got one. We'll take that." Ethan said. They ran off to their lockers and met Ethan back in the parking lot. "Ready?"

 

"Yep." Jane said. Benji nodded.

 

"Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's to our new home we go." Will sang. They all laughed. They sang terrible renditions of Disney songs until they got to the new home. They gaped at the house.

 

"Da-yum." Benji said.

 

"It looks like my Dad's house minus the beach and too much grass." Will said. "I love it!"

 

"It's really beautiful." Jane said.

 

"I like it." Ethan said. They ran inside to explore.

 

"Time to call rooms. When you choose a room, leave your backpack in it." Jane said. Will imediately dashed up the stairs and got one room with a window facing away from the street and towards a forest. He also like how it had a balcony where he could go out there and stand, like his old room, except there wouldn't be a warm ocean breeze and no sounds of the ocean to lull him to sleep at night.

 

"Almost exactly like home." Will smiled and sat his bag down. He needed to go check out the kitchen. Ethan was already down there.

 

"Same idea about checking out the kitchen?" Ethan smirked as he looked at the size of the refrigerator.

 

"Yeah." Will said as he looked around. "Of course... No cutlery or tablewear. I'll get Uncle Rob and Aunt Sive to send that stuff they got from Ireland for my parents that they said they would end up giving to me." Will murmmed. Jane and Benji got back at that point.

 

"So, are we gonna pop by our houses and then come back here?" Jane asked.

 

"Yeah. I'll drive you guys." Ethan said.

 

"You go on a nd take Jane and Benji. I'll be fine walking." Will said. They gave him a strange look.

 

"You live in a bad section of town. You'd be better off Ethan taking all of us." Jane said. Will sighed.

 

"Fine, but we have to get there before my mom gets home. I really don't want you guys dealing with her. Hell, I don't even want to deal with her." Will sighed.

 

"When does she get home?" Ethan asked as they walked out the door and got into his car.

 

"We'll have about half an hour before she gets home if we get there quick." Will said as they pulled out onto the road. The drive there was silent. "All right, saty here and I'll be back in a minute." Will hopped out and ran inside. He grabbed his duffel bag, spare backpack, and a box. Filling the bags and box with necessities, such as clothes, shoes, hygeniene products, books, memorabilia of his life in LA, electronics, and electronic games. He ran back out and put the bags in the trunk.

 

"Ready?" Ethan asked as Will slid in.

 

"Yeah." Will nodded. They went to the others' houses and finally got back to their shared house.

 

"We'll need a security system..." Benji started muttering about different technological improvements that needed to be made to the house.

 

"Before that, I need to Skype Jim." Will said.

 

"Oh! Can we meet him? I mean, we'll be living together for awhile and are bound to meet him sooner or later." Jane said.

 

"Sure." Will laughed as he logged on to Skype. "Get as comfortable as you can since we haven't got all of our furniture in order or purchased or sent yet." He pressed the call button and within seconds Jim had answered. "Jim! Guess what!"

 

"What!" Jim grinned.

 

"I've got a completely kick ass project that you'll love." Will grinned.

 

"And what's that? Doing the whole marrige thing? Cause that's what Chris and I are doing." Jim said.

 

"Nope. Better. We're put into groups of four and we're supposed to live in a house as a family for at least three weeks!" Will said.

 

"Damn you." Jim pouted.

 

"Meet my 'family'. This is Jane Carter," Will turned the laptop to face Jane.

 

"Hi Jim." Jane smiled.

 

"Benji Dunn," Will turned the laptop to face Benji.

 

"Hey!" Beji grinned.

 

"And Ethan Hunt," Will finally turned the laptop to face Ethan.

 

"Hello." Ethan waved.

 

"That's my 'family'." Will laughed.

 

"They look cool. Did you already get the house completely furnished?" Jim asked.

 

"Nope. All we got was the house and a kitchen with cabinets, stove, microwave, and refrigerator." Will shook his head. "We're going out shopping tommorrow since it's been given to us for getting settled in our project. Speaking of which, can you get your parents to send that stuff that they said they would? We'd really appreciate it since we have a budget and if we bought eveything we need, we'd be way over."

 

"Sure! I'll even pass word onto your dad, TJ's family, and Mike's family." Jim said.

 

"You're a lifesaver." Will said.

 

"Don't mention it." Jim laughed. They all chatted for a few more hours until Jim had to go to a family dinner.

 

"He really doesn't know how you've been lately." Jane sighed.

 

"No. Not even the friends he made last year and introduced me to over the summer can tell the difference." Will said as he closed the laptop. "He still thinks that I'm the smart ass, cocky, badass, rebel genious of a best friend. I've worked hard to keep it that way." Will sighed. "He doesn't even know that Mom changed my name."

 

"What was it? How could she do that?" Benji gaped.

 

"Brian James Gamble. She got it done saying that I legally wanted it changed. I wanted to stay Brian fucking Gamble." Will said. "She's so high now that I just do what ever. I sink or swim on my own." Jane put a hand on his knee. "Ethan, since evryone else in this room knows what I'm talking about, I'll tell you. My parents got a divorce and mom got full custody of me. She moved to DC a few years ago, oulling me out of school in the middle of the school year and relocating me to a school where it was made clear early on that they didn't like me. She became a prostitue and doesn't give shit what happens to me, which is why I never told her about being bullied. I o visit my dad for the summer and longer breaks. No one besides who is in this room knows this." Ethan's lips were drawn tightly together and he didn't speak for awhile.

 

"What extent has the bullying gone to?" He finally sighed.

 

"Verbal abuse and beatings." Will winced at what he was about to say. "Also, one of the upperclassmen... _sexually assaulted_... me after school had let out for the summer last year five days before I flew to LA." Ethan paled and trembled with barely concealed rage.

 

"Has the person been apprehended?" Ethan bit out.

 

"No." Will whispered. "I don't want anyone to know about it, but it appears that it's too late for that. The entire school knows." Ethan balled his hands into fists.

 

"You should tell the police." Ethan said.

 

"I plan to at the same time that I turn my mom in for prostitution." Will said. "It's illegal and needs to stop."

 

"We'll be with you." Benji said. "We're going to be family now. Family stands up for each other." Jane squeezed Will's shoulder.

 

"He's right." Ethan said. "Family stands together." Will smiled as they went to sleep in their sleeping bags that night and didn't cut. He felt good with them.


	4. Chapter 4

William laughed at Benji as he was rambling on about the virtues of a good security system.

 

"Will! You're the police officer's son, tell us the best security system!" Benji said.

 

"Well, I'd say it's a military grade one, but we can't get one of those." William shrugged. "But for one like we need, a gun, a guard dog, preferably German Shepard or Doberman, and a whole lot of muscle."

 

"I'm serious, Will." Benji crossed his arms.

 

"Technology-wise, this." William pointed at a sorta expensive system. "My dad had this on our house, but some friends of mine, their security systems were guard dogs, guns, and their big muscles. They aren't the type you fuck with." William shrugged. "I learned to shoot at an early age, since my dad was a cop and not a lot of people likes cops and LA isn't exactly the safest place in the world. I did have a dog, a German Shepard named Ana, and she is an amazing guard dog. I couldn't bring her with me, so dad's watching her."

 

"So, in addition to this, we should get guns and dogs?" Jane smiled.

 

"Be nice. I could get Dad to bring some of Ana's puppies and Ana." Willliam grinned. 

 

"Ooh! Puppies! That would be so amazing!" Jane nearly squealed. William's phone started ringing. His eyes widened.

 

"Hold a sec! It's my dad!" William grinned. "Dad! What's up?"

 

>Nothing, squirt. How have you been?<

 

"Fine. I've actually started working on an awesome project. We're put into teams of four and we have to live like a family for at least three weeks. We get a house that we have to set up with furniture, decorations, food, and stuff like that. Our house is really nice. It looks almost exactly like our old one minus the beach and too much grass." William and the others walked to the next store, the Best Buy, to get a TV.

 

>Sounds fun, that why Jim asked for me to send stuff?<

 

"Yeah. Also could you send or bring Ana and a few of her pups? We just bought the same security system in our old house and they are taking my idea of the guard dogs and guns seriously." William looked at one of the TVs.

 

>I'll send her and some of the older pups with Jim and his parents. Jim, the other kids in the group you hung out with all sumer, and his parents have planned a 'Help Brian With His New House' trip.<

 

"Sweet! When are the planning to come up?" William did a fist pump.

 

>They're leaving tomorrow. Should be up there day after.<

 

"They'll be a big help. Thanks Dad." William noticed Benji doing a weird sign. "I've gotta go. Benji's doing some weird thing. Gotta make sure he's okay."

 

>All right. I'll check up on you later. Bye, Brian.<

 

"Bye Dad. I'll call you later and send pics." William hung up. "Okay there, Benji?"

 

"Look at this!" He made a motion to a flatscreen. William grinned. "Mike had that. Really nice pictures, great for video games, amazing live action display."

 

"Not that expensive either. Can we get it?" Jane nodded.

 

"Well, we're still short of alot of things, but what is you're parents sending, Benji, Will?" Ethan looked at the list.

 

"Decorations, traditional English food, my dog, a laptop or two, furnishings for my room, alot of my crap like shoes and clothes." Benji shrugged.

 

"Furnishing for my room, few German Shepards, decorations, tables, cooking and eating utensils, a few chairs, a few guns, towels from Ireland, who knows what Deke, Chris, TJ, and Mike are bringing. By the way, Jimbo, TJ, Mike, Chris, Deke, and Jimbo's parents are bring this all up here. They'll be here the day after tomorrow." William said. "Even after buying food to feed us all for a while, soap and other hygiene products, bullets, maybe a few guns that you can call you own, we'll still have enough that even if we buy the tv we'll still have a bit in reserve."

 

"So we can get it?" Benji asked hopefully.

 

"I guess." Ethan said. Benji cheered. They picked up the box with the tv in it and checked out. "We'll go put this stuff in the car, go to lunch, and then head back and try to set this thing up."

 

"Will and I can do it!" Benji said confidently.

 

"Thank God it's Saturday tommorrow." Jane mumbled.

 

"Amen." Ethan murmmered.

 

"What's for lunch?" Benji asked as they put the tv in the trunk.

 

"There's a Japanese place over there." William said.

 

"Haven't had Japanese in a while." Ethan said.

 

"Japanese, then?" Jane asked. They nodded. After lunch, which they had enough leftovers for dinner that night, they headed back to their house.

 

"So, let's get to work, shall we?" Benji looked at the tv that they had to wire to connect and then mount. They had gotten Direct tv earlier today set up, now all they had to do was connect it to the tv. They worked quickly, setting up the tv in record time. William walked to his room, grabbed his electronics bag and walked downstairs.

 

"Anyone up for a Black Ops challenge?" He asked as he set up his Xbox.

 

"Me!" Benji said quickly.

 

"Add me." Jane said.

 

"Why not." Ethan laughed. William logged on and started a Black Ops game. Irish_Asskicker joined. William started to laugh as he handed headsets to Ethan, Jane, and Benji. He was still laughing as he put his on.

 

"I thought you were supposed to be packing, not playing Black Ops." William grinned.

 

"Got done with it." Jim laughed as Boxer_Champ, KickAssCHRIS, TJ_Beast, and Hot_Action_Deke logged on. William covered his mouthpiece as he said;

 

"They don't know my name change, so call me Brian while we're around them. I'll tell them all when they get here about it, but not now."

 

"Okay." They nodded.

 

"Brian! Sup?" TJ asked.

 

"Nothing much, just got a tv like the one Mike's got." William grinned. "Heard about you guys coming up here."

 

"Oh yeah? Can't wait to see the house." Mike laughed.

 

"You guys need to meet my housemates. This is Jane." Jane moved her avatar forwards.

 

"Hey." Jane said.

 

"This is Benji." Benji moved his character forwards.

 

"Hello!" Benji chirped.

 

"He's British!" Jim grinned.

 

"Yep. And this is Ethan." Ethan moved his avatar forwards.

 

"Hey." Ethan said.

 

"You guys have all ready met Jim." Irish_Asskicker waved. "This is TJ." TJ_Beast moved forwards.

 

"Sup guys?" He said.

 

"Mike." Boxer_Champ moved forwads.

 

"Hello." Mike said.

 

"Deke." Hot_Action_Deke moved forwards.

 

"Hey." Deke said.

 

"And Chris." KickAssCHRIS moved forwards.

 

"Sup." She said. They played alot of Black Ops until Jim and the rest of the LA crowd had to catch their plane. William and the DC crowd went to bed. William didn't cut again. When they woke up, Benji's stuff had arrived. They helped him get it in and set up in his room. The dog, a little black Scottish Terrier, was yipping and trying to jump up in Benji's arms while they were working.

 

"Amanda!" Benji sighed. "I'm working here."

 

"She missed you." Jane laughed. Benji just gave up and sat down. The dog jumped in his lap and started to lick his face.

 

"Yes, I missed you too." Benji smiled and hugged the small dog.

 

"She's so adorable, Benji." William smiled. The dog sniffed at him and licked his hand.

 

"She likes you." Benji said.

 

"So, Want to watch a movie?" Jane asked as they sat on the floor infront of their new tv.

 

"Sure." Ethan said. They watched Kung Fu Panda cause that was what was on. They watched movies the rest of the day and went out and bought groceries before bed. They went to bed. William didn't cut again.

 

The next day, William was up and waiting on the porch when Ethan walked out there.

 

"What time will they be here?" He asked as he sat beside him on the steps.

 

"Eight-thirty. They're bringing breakfast." William smiled.

 

"We should probably wake Benji and Jane up since it's eight fifteen." Ethan stood up.

 

"Yeah." William nodded. They woke them up and had them dressed when they LA crowd got there. William threw open the door.

 

"BRIAN!" Jim nearly tackled him in a hug.

 

"JIMBO!" Brian returned the bone crushing hug. They let go and Jim's parents swooped in.

 

"Brian, so good to see you again. It's so different without you." Robert Street ruffled his hair. Sive Street kissed the top of William's head.

 

"You still haven't grown! I even think you've lost a little bit of your tan!" She shook her head. "Where's a beach when you need one?"

 

"I know. I've only been able to surf when I'm in LA. It sucks." William shook his head.

 

"We'll have to find you a place around here." She put her hands on her hips.

 

"Come on in and meet my house mates." William motioned. They went into the kitchen where Ethan, Jane, and Benji were leaning against the counter. "Ethan, Jane, Benji, this is Robert and Sive Street. And you've met Jim."

 

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Street." Jane shook their hands. "Hi again Jim."

 

"Hey, Jane." Jim grined.

 

"Hello, Jane." Sive smiled. "Call me Sive."

 

"It is great to meet you, Jane. Call me Rob." Robert smiled. They went through introductions.

 

"Brian, brace yourself!" Mike said as Ana raced into the room. She jumped onto William and knocked him down. William laughed.

 

"Ana!" He pushed her off of him. Jim pulled him up.

 

"She missed you." Ethan chuckled as several smaller dogs started to try to jump on William.

 

"She loves Brian." TJ laughed. "Went everywhere possible with him." They ate breakfast.

 

"I've got something to tell you guys." William said after they had passed out buscuits.

 

"Shoot." Jim said, temporarily ignoring his food like everyone else was doing.

 

"Mom legally changed my name." William said.

 

"Why! What's wrong with Brian Gamble?" Mike frowned.

 

"Don't know. She just changed it to William Brandt." William shrugged. He debated telling them about the shit that's happened.

 

"Speaking of her, did she find a job?" Sive asked.

 

"Yeah." William made a face and wouldn't look at them. "As a prostitue." There were gasps.

 

"Has she been busted?" Rob asked quietly.

 

"No. But I plan on turning her in soon." William sighed. "Been given alot of shit about her job at school."

 

"Has anyone, or yourself, told them to leave you alone about it?" Sive asked.

 

"I've told them to fuck off. Jane even beat the shit outta one guy, though it was connected to that but more about another thing having to do with that." William shrugged.

 

"An raibh go 'rud eile a bhfuil a dhéanamh leis an' a mhíniú cén fáth go raibh tú ag limping nuair a tháinig tú chun LA don samhradh?" Jim asked, slipping into Gaelic in case William didn't want anyone else to know.

 

"Sea, rinne sé." William wouldn't look at him.

 

"Tá mé ag dul is dócha a brón iarraidh seo, ach cad a tharla? Uimh cac tarbh, an fhírinne amh." Jim sighed and looked directly into his eyes. William knew Sive and Rob would understand this. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, opened them again, and stared into his eyes.

 

"Bhí mé ionsaí gnéasach." His eyes widened and his hands clenched into fists as he paled and his lips drew into a thin line. Sive's hands flew to her mouth. Robert's hands clenched into fists as he paled.

 

"Cé? Cé a rinne é?" Jim bit out.

 

"A bastaird ag mo scoil nua." William sighed.

 

"An bhfuil a fhios do mháthair agus athair?" Sive asked. Fury shining in her eyes.

 

"Uimh Ethan, Jane, agus Benji fhios. Dúirt mé leo nuair a bhuail mé an chéad leo. Benji agus Jane toisc go raibh siad liom nuair a taunted a bastaird dom leis an bhfíric. Dúradh Ethan a choinneáil ar an eolas." Jim looked outright furious.

 

"An bastaird a phionósú go fóill?" Jim growled.

 

"Níl, ach ar intinn agam chun dul dó i am céanna mé busta mo mam le haghaidh striapachais." William said. "Ní gá do thoil insint duine ar bith faoi seo. Ba mhaith liom a fháil ar rudaí a glacadh de chúram amach anseo sula inis mé duine ar bith eile." Jim nodded. So did Robert and Sive. "On another note, what do you think of the house?"

 

"It really does look almost exactly like your dad's minus the best part. The beach!" Jim said.

 

"Yeah." TJ nodded.

 

"So, why don't eat and start moving all the things in?" Robert said. They quickly demolished breakfast and started bringing stuff in. Jim and William started to tackle William's bedroom. They were assembling his bed when Jim spoke.

 

"Why didn't you tell me before? About what happened?" Jim asked.

 

"Not something you want known, also, I was trying to get my shit together. Mom was helping, considering my room was above hers." William said. Jim's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.

 

"Brian, what is this?" William mentally winced when he realized Jim could see his scars. "What. The. Fucking. Hell. Is. This."

 

"My fucked up way of dealing with everything. Mom's job. The bastards. The thing that happened." William said.

 

"You should have talked to me. I would have helped in what ever way I could." Jim looked hurt.

 

"She was talking about not letting me go back to LA in the summers or breaks. Erasing everyway I have to communicate with LA... I didn't talk to you that often lately cause I was scared she would do it." William closed his eyes. "She doesn't care about me anymore, just cares about her next fix. About her next john. This project was a godsend. I get away from her, with people that actually give a fuck about me, get away from her job, be free to talk to you for however long I fucking want to because they wouldn't care, they'd probably even join in. I haven't cut since the day before meeting them." Jim pulled William into a hug.

 

"Never again, Bri, never again. We're gonna get your dad custody of you. Monday, I'm going with you to school. So will the others, we'll set the school straight." Jim whispered.

 

"Thank you, Jim, thank you." William mumbled into his shoulder. They set up his room and went downstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations-
> 
> An raibh go 'rud eile a bhfuil a dhéanamh leis an' a mhíniú cén fáth go raibh tú ag limping nuair a tháinig tú chun LA don samhradh? - Did that 'other thing having to do with that' explain why you were limping when you came to LA last summer?
> 
> Sea, rinne sé. - Yes, it did.
> 
> Tá mé ag dul is dócha a brón iarraidh seo, ach cad a tharla? Uimh cac tarbh, an fhírinne amh. - I'm probably going to regret asking this, but what happened? No bull shit, the raw truth.
> 
> Bhí mé ionsaí gnéasach. - I was sexually assaulted.
> 
> A bastaird ag mo scoil nua. - A bastard at my new school.
> 
> An bhfuil a fhios do mháthair agus athair? - Does your mother and father know?
> 
> Uimh Ethan, Jane, agus Benji fhios. Dúirt mé leo nuair a bhuail mé an chéad leo. Benji agus Jane toisc go raibh siad liom nuair a taunted a bastaird dom leis an bhfíric. Dúradh Ethan a choinneáil ar an eolas. - No. Ethan, Jane, and Benji know. I told them when I first met them. Benji and Jane because they were with me when a bastard taunted me with that fact. Ethan was told to be kept in the know.
> 
> An bastaird a phionósú go fóill? - The bastard been punished yet?
> 
> Níl, ach ar intinn agam chun dul dó i am céanna mé busta mo mam le haghaidh striapachais. - No, but I plan to turn him in when I bust my mom for prostitution.
> 
> Ní gá do thoil insint duine ar bith faoi seo. Ba mhaith liom a fháil ar rudaí a glacadh de chúram amach anseo sula inis mé duine ar bith eile. - Please don't tell anyone about this. I want to get things taken of here before I tell anyone else.


End file.
